Message to self: New day, new words, new creation

A letter to Mr. Trump from an American citizen

Mr. Trump:

In one of your recent speeches you assured the American people that you were highly educated and that you know words, and that you have the best words.

It seems your favorite word is “I” – something that should give cause for concern to every American voter – but I wonder if you also know some more challenging words, words like nobility, dignity, truth, courage or freedom.

I ask because those words, and their meanings, are not evident in anything you say or do, which is a repeated slap in the face to the American people you are campaigning to serve… or maybe you don’t know the meaning of that word either.

Serve … it’s what presidents do. It’s what presidential leadership is all about. It’s what good leadership is all about.

But apparently that’s not what Trump leadership is all about. You have made it clear that your leadership will amount to “jump when I say jump,” and if that jump isn’t high enough there will be hell to pay.

I’m wondering how that will translate when you are in negotiations with prominent world leaders.

Then there’s the word great. You use it a lot, like when you said you’d be great for women. I can’t imagine that, based on so much of what you’ve said recently, so I would like to ask you a one-word question that you seem to have trouble answering: “How?”

How will you be great for women, and most importantly, how do you plan to make America great?

What does that very subjective word “great” mean to Donald Trump? It would be helpful if you would translate it for the rest of the American public.

You see, many of us already believe America to be great, most often when, through her laws, her leaders and her people, the virtues of nobility, dignity, truth, courage and freedom are woven into the fabric of her identity.

 The American people are deserving of such highly principled values. What you have presented during your campaign is a far cry from anything that resembles virtues or values.

You have assaulted the American people with your turgid rhetoric and cemented political discourse into the world of reality TV. In doing so, you have attempted to manipulate voters into supporting you without providing anything concrete to support.

In the words of an astute philosopher, “Rhetoric without reason, persuasion without argument is manipulation.”

If you really care about America, you will put your gargantuan ego aside and go back to the business world before our country becomes another failed attempt at success under the Trump brand, or worse, is destroyed completely by your political incompetence and infantile petulance.

Worst practices: Employee performance review delivered in a restaurant

One two separate occasions in the same restaurant, I sat in a booth behind two people during what was obviously a performance review of the employee.

The same person presented the review on each occasion, each time to a different person, so it seemed to me this was his common practice – but not a best practice.

On both occasions, I heard every word the supervisor said to his employee, both positive and negative. In the middle of the second review, I packed up my lunch and my laptop and moved to another table because I wasn’t comfortable being privy to such information, and I’m sure the employee  was  more comfortable not having strangers, or even worse, people she may have known, close at hand.

Performance reviews are personal and should include a candid review of year-long feedback, coaching to improve performance and a productive discussion between supervisor and employee, none of which should be done within earshot of others.  To enter into a performance review in a public location shows a disregard for the employee’s privacy.

'I go to the sea ... '

The power of words

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
Words have a magical power. They can bring either the greatest happiness or deepest despair; they can transfer knowledge from teacher to student; words enable the orator to sway his audience and dictate its decisions. Words are capable of arousing the strongest emotions and prompting all men's actions.     

~ Sigmund Freud

 

You think I said what??

"What is communicated is not what is said but what is heard, and what is heard is determined  in  large measure by what the hearer needs or wants to hear."  

This bit of wisdom, originally written more than 30 years ago and meant for those who preach the Sunday homily, continues to be an important bit of wisdom throughout the field of communication. Generally, every communique, oral or written, is filtered through the needs, perspective and experience of the receiver.

Just read through the comment thread following a news article, or listen to the feedback following  a campaign rally. You will invariably  wonder if respondents read what you read, or heard what you heard.

 Have you ever sent an email to several different people only to have one or more of them completely misunderstand what you were trying to say? One may suspect your intentions, another may take it as a personal affront, and another may ignore it completely, believing it has nothing to do with him or her.

 To communicate effectively, it is essential to have an understanding of your audience, whether your audience is a parish congregation, a small faith community, the office staff or a classroom full of students, remembering that "the way we interpret the world  ... determines the way we relate to it."

Quotes are from "Fulfilled in Your Hearing: The Homily  in the Sunday Assembly,"  USCCB, 1982

Quotes are

Communication and community at the heart of mission

"Communication and community lie at the heart of the Church's mission because God's self-revelation draws every believer into the faith community. After the family, people experience the Church first in the local parish, where bonds of charity begin and where the worshiping community takes shape.

"This occurs through communication: the sharing of faith, the preaching of the Word, the celebration of the sacraments, service to the poor and marginalized, and the union of the larger body. All church communication—even her technologically or mass-mediated communication—should flow from the foundation of God’s self-revelation. Human communication in the Church mirrors the communication of the Trinity, the Divine community, in whom we discover the fullness of communion and communication" (Pastoral Plan for Church Communication, United States Catholic Conference, 1997).